This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for forming, filling and sealing bags and depositing the filled and sealed bags in cartons, and more particularly to such a method and apparatus for the packaging of a particulate product such as dry breakfast cereal.
The method and apparatus of this invention are in the same general field as the method and apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,983,682 and 4,571,926, for example, and involve utilization of a vertical form/fill/seal packaging machine such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,965 of Robert C. James issued Sept. 15, 1981 to the assignee of this application, and of a carton conveyor such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,975 of Marinus J. M. Langen et al., issued Feb. 17, 1987 and assigned by mesne assignments to the assignee of this application, and a combination weighing scale such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,506 of Takashi Hirano, issued May 2, 1986 to Yamato Scale Co. Ltd. of Akashi, Japan, the disclosures of these U.S. patents being incorporated herein by reference.